he'll be fine for a while, too much of a draw to the show to risk pissing people off, plenty of others have higher chance of dieing before Daryl, like Beth, Hershel, Axel, the three people that are with Tyreese, Andrea maybe Carol. There is plenty of room on the show for Tyreese and Daryl.

Question: Could I please have a niblet of scoop on what’s coming up on the second half of The Walking Dead‘s third season? —Rob
Ausiello: When the show returns on February 10, not only will we learn the outcome of the Daryl/Merle showdown, a character you probably never thought you’d see again will put in an appearance, and Rick will do something (literally) everyone has wanted to do at one time or another.

Why do I think the thing Rick does has something to do with assaulting Andrea? Perhaps a knock-out punch while orchestrating Daryl's escape...

And as for the return character, Morgan seems like the obvious choice, but how's Morales for a wildcard?